Reflection for the Solemnity of the Body & Blood of Christ, Cycle C

The lectionary translation of the readings for this Sunday can be found HERE

1st Reading:

Genesis 14:18–20

Remember that God called Abram (Abraham) to leave his homeland in Ur of the Chaldeans to go to a land God would show him. He took his grandson Lot and the settled in Canaan. They both fared well and grew to large households so they split up and Lot went to the Jordan plain near Sodom. Four Kings combined and made war on the Kings of Sodom and Gomorrah, defeated them and took Lot and his people captive with the others. Abram was told. He mustered enough men with another King and they went out, defeated the king holding the captives and brought them back. When he came back, Melchizedek, King of Salem, which means King of Peace, came out to greet him. His actual name Melchizedek means “My king is justice”. That’s where this selection takes up the story.

2nd Reading:

1 Corinthians 11:23–26

In this letter, Paul has talked to the Corinthians about divisions in the Church, moral disorders among the people and then deals with liturgical abuses. This was before the time that our liturgy became ritualized. They evidently gathered to have meals together and also share communion. But they had divisions in their assemblies leading to some going without at the meals while others ate and got drunk, he tells them to eat their meals at home and gives them the outline for sharing the Lord’s Supper. It is the earliest writing of what we call the Institution Narrative. (After he tells them not to eat unworthily, without discerning the Body, referring either to the Eucharist, the Body of Christ which is the gathered community, or both.)

Gospel:

Luke 9:11b–17

As the day was drawing to a close, the Twelve approached him and said, “Dismiss the crowd so that they can go to the surrounding villages and farms and find lodging and provisions; for we are in a deserted place here.”He said to them, “Give them some food yourselves.” _{Lk 9:12-13}

Setting & Parallels:

This story is told in all four Gospels. Matthew and Luke seem to be following Mark. John may be telling it from his own memory or another source. Luke tells the story after the return of the Apostles who had been sent on mission of their own to proclaim the good news. Jesus took them to a deserted place so they could rest but the crowds followed them, so he taught them and cured the sick.

Verse by Verse:

Lk 9:13 “Give them some food yourselves.” | This is the same translation used in the Gospel of Mark (Mk 6:37) Luke changes the word order emphasizing the word “you”. Our translation into English doesn’t have the strength of the Greek. Joseph Fitzmyer, AYBC, says that Jesus is challenging the disciples to do the miracle. I don’t think they would have taken it as a challenge to do a miracle, but with the emphasis on the word “you”, they surely would have taken it as a challenge.

Lk 9:13b “Five loaves and two fish are all we have…” | The Apostles reject the challenge as impossible.

Lk 9:16 “…he said the blessing over them, broke them, and gave them…” | These are the same words used in Luke’s telling of the Last Supper (Lk 22:19). While this story is a precursor to the Last Supper, the first hearers of this story would have recognized the words from their celebrations of the Eucharist.

Lk 9:17 “…they [the fragments] filled twelve wicker baskets.” | Joseph Fitzmyer, AYBC, points out that the number twelve refers to the Apostles; they each brought back a basket of fragments.

What the 1st hearers heard:

They would have recognized this as a physical miracle story but also I’m sure they would have caught the Eucharistic overtones. And, I’m pretty sure, because of the emphasis in the Greek, they would have heard Jesus say “Give them some food yourselves.”

What would change if our community really heard this Gospel?

 We would understand that the Mass is oriented toward us actively living our Christianity as missionary disciples.

What is the good news in this Gospel?

Jesus will miraculously help us fulfill our duty to bring his love to the world.

Gospel Reflection

The Mass Makes Us Missionary Disciples

Many people have a tendency to think of the Gospels as an historic telling of the story of Jesus. They expect the stories to be literally true in the same way that we want newspaper accounts of current affairs to be literally true. We, therefor, don’t want one Gospel to seem to contradict another Gospel’s telling of the same, or similar, story.

Well, that is not how the Gospels were put together. The stories were passed around verbally for many years before the first Gospel, maybe Mark’s, was written. Each of the Gospel writers had a particular point, or points, they wanted to emphasize so they wrote down the stories in a manner that illustrated their point. That’s why some people say, “Everything in the Bible is true, and some of it actually happened.” The Bible points to a truth beyond the literal telling.

That is not a bad thing. For example, Luke obviously wants us to understand that Jesus wants us to take action to make the Good News active in the world. That’s why he emphatically has Jesus say “Give them some food yourselves.” (Lk 9:13) This was in response to the Apostles telling him to send the crowds away so they can buy their own food. The other three Gospels also tell this story. John doesn’t record Jesus telling the Apostles to feed them yourselves. Matthew and Mark do record the command but don’t use the emphasis relayed by Luke’s Greek.

All four of the Gospels tell the story with Eucharistic overtones. They all have some form of Jesus taking the bread, saying the blessing and giving it to the people with the help of the disciples. John’s Gospel doesn’t mention the help of the disciples but his telling of the rest of this story is pretty similar. Why does an obviously physical miracle have such spiritual overtones. Was Jesus talking about the Eucharist or talking about taking care of people’s physical needs.

The answer, of course, is yes. It isn’t an either/or proposition but a both/and proposition. I’m convinced that, if we receive the Eucharist without a conscious understanding that we are saying yes to being the Body of Christ in the world, we are diminishing the power of this sacrament for which so many people are willing to spend hours in adoration.

One of the Church’s most ancient teachings is that when we approach the Eucharistic minister and respond “yes” to their proclamation “the Body of Christ” we are saying yes to being a member of the Body of Christ. The Church now says that it is by receiving that we are enrolled. St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, taught that if we say yes to being a member of the body of Christ when receiving communion, we should affirm our “yes”, after Mass, by being the Body of Christ in the world. That means living a life of service, being an instance of God’s love to people, or however we want to express it. Either way, it means feed them yourselves.

So, think about it when you are going up in procession to receive Communion. Think about the fact that you are going up to say yes to being a member of the Body of Christ. And when the deacon sends us out at the conclusion of Mass, think about the fact that we are being sent out to be the Body of Christ in the world, which is so desperately in need of his love.

God bless…

Personal Reflection:

As the day was drawing to a close, the Twelve approached him and said, “Dismiss the crowd so that they can go to the surrounding villages and farms and find lodging and provisions; for we are in a deserted place here.”He said to them, “Give them some food yourselves.” _{Lk 9:12-13}  

Question:

What words or phrases attracted your attention during the Liturgy of the Word on Sunday? What connection do those words or phrases have to your day-to-day life? (Why do you think they attracted your attention?) What might God be trying to say to you through these words or phrases? What response should you make? What action should you take?

Alternative:

Reflect upon/Share about a time when you interacted with someone in a way that made them feel recognized as a person, cared about or cared for. Do you commonly treat people in such a manner? Did you do it conscious of the fact that you are called to be an instance of Christ’s loving presence to them? How can you more consciously and more frequently treat people in this manner?